SOCIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

By T.H Shah

On the very outset, the world was not as we live in today. Numerous religious,
social, political and economic factors caused changes thus revolutionising the
whole structure of human society. As the scenario of the world continued
changing with geographical developments in the universe, same has been with
human rights which came to be known as not individualistic or regional but
regarded universal in nature. This short paper attempts to understand the human
rights in following perspectives:

 Religious Perspective
 Philosophical Perspective
 Reformation and Renaissance
 Modern political theories and human rights
 Media, civic education & Information technology

Religious Perspective

History of human rights is as old as man himself because they emerged with the
creation and appearance of man in the universe. The first resident of earth is
considered to be the Adam as per three major religions of the world (Christianity,
Judaism and Islam). Adam and Eve appearance on earth brought some principles
or rules of life to prevent social disorder revealed them to set up. The first
criminal act in response against the social order was the murder of Habeel at the
hands of Qabeel; and the dressing-down by the God and Prophet Adam this
inhumane conduct of Habeel lays the foundation of human rights. The story is
explained in the Holy Quran in 5:27-31)[2]. As per Hindu scriptures of
Ramayana, the root cause of war between king Ravenna and Lord Rama was the
abduction of Sitaji, a wife of Lord Rama; the war is supposed to be fought
between the periods of 7250BC-6250BC Lord Rama fought for the matrimonial
rights of Sitaji. In human rights conventions, it is categorised in the rights to
make family and marriage as per ones own wishes. In Buddhism, concept and
practise of the Eightfold Path provides the base for the evolution of human rights.

Commenting upon the ancient Egypt, Mr. Sean McLaughlin in his book World
Religions says “The Egyptians believed that it was the Pharaoh who ensured the
afterlife of the ordinary people: he cared and provided for them in the afterlife as
he had on the earth. Even so, during the predynastic period, the dead were buried
with food and other equipment to assist them” It shows that even under extreme
totalitarian political structure, it has been the responsibility of the state to look
after its individuals. The examples testify religions to be one of the factors of
giving concept of human rights as all preach establishment of such social order
aiming at peace and security of human life. To clear the point, even the other
isms not constructed by revelation or divine guidance rather wrought by human
reason stress upon the protection and promotion of human rights. Humanism,
democracy, socialism or communism all strive for the achievement of human
betterment and reformation whether social, economic and political.
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Philosophical Perspective

Then comes Socrates (469 BC–399 BC), Plato (428/427 BC– 348/347 BC),
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) and later on other philosphers; and the world
catapults into an intellectual terrain where it is nourished by ideas emerged from
human reason giving new dimensions to state and politics. The concept like
divine status of kings, citizenship, statecraft or governance, rights and duties all
assumed different forms. Socrates’ execution introduced awareness and
consciousness amongst the Greeks and the revolt against oligarchy in Greece led
to struggle for democracy, rationalism, secularism and independence from
obscurantism. The lessons of independent thinking by these renowned
philosophers even transformed the strict followers of religions like Christians,
Jewish and also Muslims. Emergence of secular thoughts in most of the
European countries where separation line made between state and church is result
of independent thinking. Similarly, the Islamic philosophy is also influenced by
Platonic philosophy and King Harron-ur-Rasheed of Abbassied Caliphate
(Islamic dynastical period (750–1258) patronized Mutazillah School of Thought
(Rational School of Thought in Islam) which later on laid the foundation for
understanding Islamic thoughts in rational firmament. In strong dynasties, when
people were ignored from political structure and destined to live miserable life,
then their reaction wreaked tremendous loss to the kingly powers reducing their
existence in papers only. Roman Empire, Mughal Empire, Islamic Empires in
Spain and Turkey all crumbled down at the hands of the new conception of rights
as propagated by the writings of these sages. Western Political thought are
greatly influenced by the Theory of Social Contract given by J.J Rousseau,
Thomas Hobbs and Thomas Hill Green. This theory lends justification to the
existence of parliament which is entitled for enacting laws for the betterment of
people so they live in peace and security. It, thus, uniformed the way for
collective preservation instead of self-preservation of a particular group. This
also is the objective of human rights and if think deeply of all international
conventions on human rights as well.

Reformation and Renaissance

The cultural revolution caused by Renaissance which spanned over 14th to 17th
century influenced a lot each and every corner of life. It left indelible imprints
upon science, religion, philosophy, politics, art and literature which have been
approached with humanism. Though humanism is laden with various meanings
in these subjects; but in current arena it advocates human rights and gender
equalities. In political affairs these great intellectual movement introduced
rationality equally in religious spheres it liberated peoples from the evil jaws of
papacy who enslaved the peoples by treacherously hiding the actual teachings of
the Bible. Being unconscious and unreceptive to the actual message of the Bible,
the peoples were bound to follow what flowed from Church or papal power
which absolutely allowed no religious liberty the hallmark of which is
independent thinking. It was the time of political and religious bondage,
ignorance and no human rights at all. The main features of the Christendom
were;
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  Emphasis upon monasticism;
 Keeping teachings of the Bible hidden from the peoples;
 Customs like penance and purchase of forgiveness were established for
amassing wealth from poor peoples;

Result of this unawareness caused many misconceptions about education; Mr.

E.G White in his book The Great Controversy writes that “Even the students in
the universities were deceived by the false representations of the monks and
induced to join their orders. Many afterwards repented this step, seeing that
they have blighted their own lives and had brought sorrow upon their
parents; but when fast in the snare it was impossible for them to obtain their
freedom. Many parents, fearing the influence of monks, refused to send
their sons to the universities. There was a marked falling off in the number
of students in attendance at the great centre of learning. The school
languished and ignorance prevailed.” In this way the negatively perceived
religious conceptions caused violation of human rights. But later on the writings
of John Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome and the revolutionary tone of King Marin Luther
shattered all these chains. At the expense of their lives, these reformers trickled
down the actual essence of scriptures to the peoples making them free both in
religious and political spheres. The emergence of secularism supplemented the
phenomenon of human rights; that is why in many political systems of the
developed countries international conventions on human rights, the trends like
use of contraceptive medicines, abortion, and homosexual rights are recognised
irrespective of what the religion say about that.

Modern political theories and human rights

In modern times, the king is no longer the shadow of God on earth, instead he is
head of the state elected and ousted by the ballot. The monarchical or kingly
rules shattered with the emergence of democratic values which has made the
people politically conscious of their rights. Therefore no one can say like French
king L'État c'est Moi (I am the State). The modern political theories like
individualism, utilitarianism, secularism and above all the democracy has
levelled the way for breeding such type of political mind-set and also paved the
way for the protection of human rights in the states. It is result of these political
thoughts that even in strictly close political society like Saudi Arabia and UAE,
the voices against monarchical set- up can be heard. Even the strong communist
society of former USSR could not withstand against the public pressures when
rights of the people were flouted. The communist regime of China has accepted
the rights of private property at the hands of these political shifts. The overthrow
of monarchy in Nepal is result of same consciousness. That is why throughout
the world, the military or kingly regimes are not seen with appreciation. In some
developed countries, monarchy is just conventional in nature with no special say
in state affairs like England, Japan, Norway and Denmark. To put it briefly, with
the development and evolution of political theories, the concept of rights has also
undergone tremendous change giving rise to international laws and human rights
conventions binding states to certain international obligations.

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Media, civic education & Information technology

Till the invention of printing machine, knowledge was restricted and limited to a
specific section of people who sometimes used it for exploitation and social
sciences has not yet taken the sufficient place in human life as is the case now.
Absence of media both print and electronic has kept people ignorant and world
isolated. But the invention of printing machine and modern developments in it
gave new touch to sociological and anthropological research which resulted in
the massive expansion of civic education. The publication of newspapers also
transformed people minds and played pivotal role in making public opinion on a
specific pattern. The Industrial Revolution between seventeen and eighteen
century gave new direction to human thinking along with rendering the life
comfortable. It reoriented the relations among different parts of the world in the
form of trade or for dependence of getting raw material and fulfilling industrial
needs. This close interaction among different regions of the world caused close
nearness which in future caused assimilation of diverse cultures. In present day
which can be regarded as an info-tech age, the human rights are fast undergoing
evolutionary stage causing tremendous transformations even in many closed
societies living on religious structures. The current example is the recognition of
the rights of homosexuals in India by the highest judicial body and even the
government did not reacted against this evolutionary phenomenon. To put it
rightly, the civic education coupled with info-tech has gone far towards in
making the human rights protected equally changing the normative structure of
the society.

Moreover, behind all these socio-politico developments, the role of civil society
organisations working purely on human rights and policy interventions stands
supreme. With their mass awareness campaigns utilising media, they have lent
specific dimensions to the concept of rights. In future, the idea of world
government can assume concrete reality with forceful use of info-tech and the
coordinated efforts of these organisations.

References:

 The Holy Quran

 The Holy Bible
 The Great Controversies by E.G White
 World Religions by Sean McLaughlin
 Website: www.wikipedia.com

(The Writer is associated with Press For Peace (PFP) as Director Research. He
could be contacted at: shah@pressforpeace.org.uk )